THE NATIONAL ROADS AUTHORITY – A DECADE OF PROGRESS FOREWORD The first decade of the 21st century witnessed the development of a modern and remarkable road network in Ireland – an engineering achievement that ranks with the great accomplishments of the past, such as rural electrification, the development of the railway network, and the development of the canal ways. The improvements to the road network are a legacy that will benefit future generations. Achieving this legacy, however, was no easy feat and the story that follows is an insight into why and how, in little more than a decade, Ireland upgraded almost all of its busier primary routes. It required billions of Euro in investment, tens of thousands of workers, innovative financing schemes, the co-operation of many companies and organisations, the introduction of new technology and determined leadership with a clear vision of what was to be achieved. At the time the improvements were launched, no one foresaw the phenomenal economic growth that Ireland would experience, and yet the new national road network has coped with all of the demands placed upon it. This infrastructure has helped to improve our competitiveness immeasurably on the world’s economic stage, and to provide much safer and easier travel for the public. The National Roads Authority led the programme, but this was a national effort. Well over one hundred thousand people worked on the National Roads programme during the decade and this is the story of what they accomplished. CONTENTS Foreword 1 NRA – Activity Timeline 2 Chapter 1: The Genesis of the Programme 5 Chapter 2: Delivery 13 Chapter 3: The Road Programme 29 Fred Barry Peter Malone Chapter 4: The Benefits 83 Chartered Engineer Chairman Appendix 86 CEO M8, Fermoy Bypass. 1 THE NATIONAL ROADS AUTHORITY – A DECADE OF PROGRESS THE NATIONAL ROADS AUTHORITY – A DECADE OF PROGRESS National Roads In the space of a decade, over one third of Ireland’s national roads was transformed, including almost all of the busier primary routes. The extent of the improvements, in Infrastructure terms of number and scale of schemes, and geographical spread, can be seen in the 2000 list below. 2000 & 2001 2002 2003 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 N7 Nenagh Bypass N4 Enfield Relief Road M1 Cloghran/Lissenhall N1 Dundalk Western Bypass PPP N2 Ashbourne Bypass - M50 Jcn N1 NI Border/Dundalk N6 Kilbeggan Athlone N4 Leixlip to M50 junction N3 Clonee to North of Kells PPP N9 Moone/Timolin N9 Grannagh - Waterford M1 Lissenhall/Balbriggan N2 Carrickmacross Bypass N2 Monaghan Town Bypass N2 Castleblaney Bypass N8 Cashel Mitchelstown N6 Athlone Ballinasloe N7 Castletown to Nenagh Phase 1B M50/N4/N7/ Ballymount M1 Drogheda Bypass N4 Kilcock Kinnegad PPP N4 Edgeworthstown Relief Road N4 Dromod Roosky N8 Cullahill Cashel N6 Galway to Ballinasloe PPP N7 Limerick Tunnel PPP Free Flow Slips N15 Bunduff/Drowes M4 Celbridge Interchange N4 McNeads Bridge Kinnegad N7 Naas Road Upgrade N5 Charlestown Bypass N9 Carlow Bypass N8 Fermoy to Mitchelstown N7 Nenagh/Limerick M50/M1 Free Flow Slips River (Leitrim) M7 Kildare Bypass N4 Sligo Inner Relief Road N8 Fermoy Rathcormac Bypass N6 Kinnegad/Kilbeggan N11 Kilpeddar Delgany Jnc N9 Kilcullen to Carlow M7/M8 Portlaoise to Cullahill/ N72 Killarney Northern Road II N17 Knock/Claremorris C’town PPP N8 Watergrasshill Bypass 2004 N6 Loughrea Bypass N8/73 Mitchelstown Relief Road N11 Enniskerry Junction M50 Upgrade Phase 1 N25 Waterford City Bypass PPP M1Dunleer/Dundalk N18 Ballycasey/Dromoland Improvement N9 Carlow to Knocktopher (Newmarket on Fergus) N11 Glen of the Downs N21 Ballycarthy Tralee N15 Ballyshannon Bundoran M50 Upgrade Phase 3 N51 Navan Inner Relief Road M1/N2 Dunleer/Ardee Link N4 Hughstown - Meera Bypass N11 Arklow/Gorey Bypass N9 Waterford Knocktopher N22 Bealagrellagh/Gortatlea N18/19 Hurlers Cross & N19 N22 Gortatlea Farranfore N52 Tullamore Bypass N5 Strokestown/Longford N4 McNeads Bridge to Mullingar M50 South Eastern Motorway N15/R280 Link Road Scheme N18 Ennis Bypass M18 Gort Crusheen N24 Piltown/Fiddown N25 Youghal Bypass (Scramoge) N4 Joanstown to County N21 Castleisland Abbeyfeale N52 Mullingar - Belvedere N21 Castleisland Bypass N25 Camaross M50 Second Westlink Bridge M7 Monasterevin Bypass Boundary (Rathowen) N25 Kinsalebeg N56 Mountaintop to Illistrin M50 Upgrade Phase 2 PPP N71 Skibbereen Bypass N7 Parkway (Capped N15 Clar - Barnesmore N25 Kinsale Road Interchanges N77 Kilkenny Ring Road Var Motorway Service Areas Contribution) N20 Blackpool Bypass N30 Enniscorthy Clonroche Extension Tranche 1 N7 Limerick SRR Phase 1 N20 Croom Bypass M50 Dublin Port Tunnel N8 Cashel Bypass N20/N21 Adare/Limerick N52 Mullingar Bypass N11 Rathnew/Ashford Bypass N21Ballycarthy to Killally N55 Cavan Bypass N22 Ballincollig Bypass N24 Beary’s Cross to Grange Cross N26 Ballina/Bohola Phase 1 N25 Kilmacthomas Bypass M50/N11 Wyattville Interchange 2010 M50 Southern Cross Route N52 Link to Nenagh Bypass N56 Mountcharles Bypass 2 3 Chapter 1 THE GENESIS OF THE PROGRAMME CONTENTS BACKGROUND 5 THE NATIONAL ROADS AUTHORITY 6 NATIONAL STRATEGIC PLANS 7 BACKGROUND The history and evolution of the road network in Ireland is well described by Peter O’Keefe in his two volumes on ‘Ireland’s Principle Roads’ which, in turn, draw upon the work of many other scholars, and historical sources. These volumes were published by the National Roads Authority in 2001. Little detail is known about the earliest road developments in Ireland, although remnants of Iron Age roads have been discovered in boggy areas where the timber has been preserved. By the time Conn of the Hundred Battles was born, the Annals of the Four Masters record the existence of five principle roads to Tara. Classification of the roads was included in the Brehon Laws, some of which survive in the language to the present day. For example, a ‘Bothar’ was wide enough for cows to pass in both directions. Many townland names commence with ‘Boher’, and of course the description ‘boreen’ typically refers to a narrow, rural road. The 18th and 19th centuries saw significant improvements in road–building technology, and the institutional arrangements for building and maintaining roads evolved. Many of the roads developed during this period were tolled, or turnpike, roads. The turnpike was a basic form of turnstile, or a gate across the road, which a traveller passed through upon payment of a toll. Unlike the canal ways, which spread rapidly across Ireland during the mid-18th century and were used primarily for commercial transport, the turnpike roads were more locally focused - rarely being longer than 40 kilometres. Not surprisingly, the routes around Dublin were the first to be developed and the network expanded from there. Turnpikes were the mainstay of transport routes for over a century before their popularity waned with the spread of the railways in the mid-19th century. Roads, railways and canals were core modes of transport, all playing important roles during the mid-1800s to the late 1990s. Roads were built to connect the many villages and towns along the route and, as roads spread, so more villages and towns were born. The development of roads continued into the 1990s, at which point the pressure on the old road network was immense. THE INTER-URBAN Car usage was expanding rapidly, workers were commuting greater distances, the population was increasing and MOTORWAY NETWORK, economic growth had led to increased freight traffic. Almost all inland transport in Ireland is road-based, as the BUILT BETWEEN 2000-2010, distances are too short for most goods to be carried economically by rail. Between 1975 and 2000, the number of mechanically propelled vehicles under licence increased from 0.7 to 1.7 million and, indeed, increased further WILL BE SEEN AS A to 2.5 million by 2009, but the roads had never been designed to cope with such volumes of traffic. REMARKABLE LEGACY OF ENGINEERING, WHICH WILL LAST FOR HUNDREDS OF YEARS. N25, Youghal Bypass Opened 2003. 4 5 CHAPTER 1: THE GENESIS OF THE PROGRAMME CHAPTER 1: THE GENESIS OF THE PROGRAMME Motorists who experienced the country’s roads in the 1980s and early 1990s will remember the arduous NATIONAL STRATEGIC PLANS journeys that were required when driving between the major cities. As an example, a driver heading from Dublin to Galway could take over four hours to reach his or her destination. A sea of brake lights, trails National Road Needs Study, 1998 of exhaust fumes, moving forward a yard at a time – almost every town and village was a bottleneck as local The NRA commissioned a comprehensive review of the state of the road network in the mid-1990s. and regional roads had to be traversed. From Chapelizod and Lucan on Dublin’s outskirts, right across the The review was called the National Road Needs Study. It focused on the general condition and performance country, the bottlenecks created a journey that few will recall fondly and have since become a part of travel of the road network, and the motorist’s travel experience (such as bottlenecks encountered and the length folklore. of journeys). In essence, it assessed the ‘level of service’ delivered by Ireland’s network of national roads. It also looked at how the significant traffic growth and resulting congestion which Ireland was experiencing, would The benefits of the odd bypass, built between the 1970s and 1990s (e.g. the N6 Athlone Bypass and the impact negatively on economic activity, road safety and the environment. N7 Naas Bypass), while very welcome, offered only limited comfort to road users as more congestion lay ahead. Published in 1998, it went on to identify national road investment needs over the period 2000-2019, based on assumptions relating to population growth and the demands of an increasing volume of traffic. The problems were not confined to commuters and casual travellers.